Multiple nesting hair curler

ABSTRACT

A multiple hair curling assembly and method of drying and curling hair utilizes an inner open ended, thin walled roller adapted to have the end portion of a strand of hair wound thereon and at least one larger outer open ended, thin walled roller equipped with a narrow longitudinal slot having one end open, said outer roller being adapted to receive and secure the inner roller in a nesting relation with the hair strand passing through the slot and with a continuing portion being would upon the surface of the outer roller, thereby dramatically hastening the drying process and imparting curls of different curvature to the strand of hair.

United States Patent I 51 3,692,034 Stone [4 1 Sept. 19, 1972 [5MULTIPLE NESTING HAIR CURLER Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene 72]Inventor: Alice B. Stone, 404 Severin St., 45mm g 'g ff Eskw'tz Chapelnan, NC. 27514 we [22] Filed: July 6, 1971 [57] ABSTRACT PP 159,622 Amultiple hair curling assembly and method of drying and curling hairutilizes an inner open ended, thin walled roller adapted to have the endportion of a (SI. Strand of hair wound thereon and at least one larger[58] Field A 33 B outer open ended, thin walled roller equipped with a135/41 narrow longitudinal slot having one end open, said outer rollerbeing adapted to receive and secure the inner roller in a nestingrelation with the hair strand [56] References Cited passing through theslot and with a continuing portion UNITED STATES PATENTS bleingbwgulduPOll'll tfie surfacehofdthe outer rolleri,

t ere y ramatica y astemngt e rymg process an 3,040,753 6/1962 Russell..132/40 imparting curls of different curvature to the Strand of3,400,724 9/1968 Scott ..l32/39 hail. 3,050,069 8/1962 Brown ..l32/39 6Claims, 10 Drawing Figures 21 mi\\\\\\\\\\\l\\\l\\\\l\ O illllllllllllliiiiiiriiil v 2 6 6 E l t ll \.J Q ,Q Q Q PATENTEDSEPW I912 3.692.034

INVENTOR. Al ice E5. Stone ATTORNEY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Fieldof the Invention This invention relates to the structures and methodsassociated with the drying and curling of hair and particularly withhair curling assemblies. More specifically, the invention relates toahair curling assembly consisting of a plurality of slotted hair curlersof increasing diameter which nest within each other and further relatesto a method of hair curling utilizing such an assembly.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the art of curling and drying hairthe most common method is to wind a strand of hair around a singletubular roller until the entire strand is wound upon the roller and theroller can be secured adjacent to the scalp. All portions of the strandnecessarily adapt the curvature of the single roller and roller size isselected according to the length of strand. This process is continueduntil all of the hair is divided into strands and is wound on individualsingle rollers. The rollers may be of the same or different diametersbut any single strand is wound only on a single roller and consequentlythe strand takes the samecurvature throughout its length.

When the described prior art method and rolling structure are used, thedrying time is extremely long, the hair frequently is not curled at thetips and the curls between the tips and the scalp often areunsatisfactory in size and shape. Some prior art devices, such as US.Pat. No. 3,050,069 attempt to solve those problems by using two rollersto differentiate the curling ratio. However, because the designs of suchrollers are inherently restricted to the use of only two rollers,neither the roller structure or the associated method is able toeffectively cope with the very long hair which is now in style. Also,the disclosure of Brown US. Pat. No. 3,050,069 inherently requires alarge slot in the outer roller at least slightly greater in width andlength than the diameter and length of the inner roller and such slotinherently removes a substantial portion of what would otherwise be curlsupporting area. Because the inner roller with its turns of hairprotrudes through the outer roller a portion of the hair strand ishumped in this large slot and must inherently be set" with such hump.Any attempt to follow such a construction and method with more than tworollers amplifies the hump problem requires increasing slot sizes.Multiple concentric rollers are shown in US. Russell US. Pat. Nos.2,190,989 and 3,040,753. The construction and method involved in theRussell patents are based on pulling the hair end through four alignedslots, then axially and then circumferentially around an inner spindleby rotating the inner spindle while holding an outer cover sleeve.Unlike the present invention the inner spindle and outer sleeve must beable to have respective slots aligned and to be able to rotate relativeto each other without being secured together in successive pairs as withthe present invention. It can also be seen that where multiple rollershave been employed in the prior art they have inherently requiredsubstantial non-uniformity in the various rollers making up anassociated set of rollers whereas it would be desirable as with thepresent invention to vary only the diameter and to otherwise employ thesame construction in each roller.

In general it can be said of the prior art that single rollers andsingle roller methods have dominated. To the extent that slotted andnesting rollers have been employed in roller systems and methods nonehave substantially reduced drying time nor have they allowed curls ofdifferent curvature or of reverse curvature to be formed on a largenumber of nested rollers, say four to five, nor have they adapted tosubstantially long hair strands SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According tothe invention the hair is normally pretreated byshampoo and rinse, astrand of hair is blocked off anda substantially short portion of thestrand of hair is then wound upon an inner open ended, thin walled,cylindrical rollerrBoth the wound hair and inner roller are nextinserted into an outer open ended, cylindrical roller. The immediatecontinuing portion of the hair passes through a narrow longitudinal slotwhich is open at one end and extends for substantially the full lengthof the roller. The inner roller and hair wound thereon are secured toand nested in the outer roller in such a manner that the respectivelongitudinal axes are parallel and laterally offset. The rollers aresecured together in a tangential non-rotatable relation with the line ofsecurement being adjacent the slot. The continuing strand of hair isthen wound upon the surface of the outer roller until the curlingassembly is adjacent the scalp or until a predetermined length of hairhas been wound and the assembly is, in the latter case, nested in asecond outer slotted roller of greater diam eter. The procedure of usefor the second outer roller is the same as for the first and when theassembly is ad'- jacent the scalp and has the full length of strandwound thereon, it is secured by hair pins adjacent to the scalp. Similarprocedures and roller structures are employed for the remaining strands.When the hair has become dry, the entire procedure is reversed and therollers are removed. In the preferred embodiment the longitudinal slotcontains a prong or clip member which acts as a guide and also as ameans for securing pairs of rollers together in the desired tangentialrelation. Other socalled nesting notches are provided which engage thebase of the prong and enables the rollers to nest with their ends flush.Another aspect of the invention as previously mentioned is that therollers may be of substantially uniform construction except for thediameter dimension which facilitates both manufacture and use of therollers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of a typical innerroller.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the inner roller taken in the direction of line2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a typical outer roller.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the outer roller taken in the direction of line4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an end view of the outer roller taken in the direction of line5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an elevation section view taken in the direction of line 6-6of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the inner and outer rol' lers partiallynested and a strand of hair on the inner roller.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the inner and outer rollers fully nested,no hair being shown for simplification.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a three curler assembly which is partiallynested, no hair being shown for simplification.

FIG. 10 is an end view of a fully nested three curler assembly with hairwound on each roller.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment of theinvention shown in the drawings, a substantially smooth and rigid, openended, thin walled, cylindrical inner roller 11 is equipped withperforations 13 and four substantially small and quadrentiallypositioned nesting notches 12. In use, roller 11 is wound in apredetermined direction with a predetermined length of a strand of hair40. Roller 11 with the hair wound thereon is then nested completelyinside a cylindrical, thin walled, open ended, perforated, outer rollerwhich has a smooth, rigid outer surface like roller 11 and is of agreater diameter than the combined diameter of roller 1 1 and the hairwound thereon. Roller 20 is also provided with three nesting notches 21which are positioned in a quadrential relation to a relatively narrowslot 23 having one end closed and one end open. Notches 21 are locatedon the end of roller 20 opposite to the roller end having the open endof slot 23. Roller 20 can also be seen to have a slightly resilientprong or guide clip 24 mounted in slot 23, and spaced inwardly by thedistance D-4 (FIG. 6).

During final nesting rollers 11 and 20 are rotated relative to eachother until a nesting notch 12 on roller 11 becomes aligned and isallowed to engage the base portion of guide clip 24 on roller 20. Thewidth and depth of the respective nesting notches 12 are selected forthis purpose and which allows the roller ends to be flush when fullynested. As part of the nesting procedure the continuing portion of thehair strand 40 is made to pass through the slot 23. As shown in thedrawings it can also be seen that a portion of roller 11 and the hairwound on such portion is slid and guided over guide clip 24 and in slot23. Looked at endwise, roller 11 and the hair wound thereon appear asbeing in a tangential relation with the inner surface of outer roller 20and with the longitudinal line of securement afforded by guide clip 24being adjacent slot 23. It may also be noted that the respective axesare laterally offset, when looked at endwise and this offset increaseswith increasing differences in diameter of the rollers. This offset isalso controlled by the amount of hair wound on each roller. Thedimension D-4 (FIG. 6) also controls this offset.

After roller 11 and the hair wound thereon is properly nested withinroller 20, a further length of hair strand 40 is wound in apredetermined direction on the outer surface of roller 20. If, at thispoint, the entire length of hair strand 40 has been consumed, the entireassembly is secured adjacent to scalp 50 by hair pins or other meanswell known in the art. If not, roller 20 with the hair wound thereon isnested within a second outer roller such as roller in the same mannerthat roller 11 was nested in roller 20. A predetermined length of hairstrand is in this case next wound in a predetermined direction on theouter surface of roller 30. When the remaining length of hair strand 40has been consumed by winding on roller 30 or additional outer rollers,the entire assembly is secured adjacent to scalp 50.

Each time one roller is nested within another the guiding and securementis effected by the respective guide clip of the outermost roller and therollers are rotated until a selected nesting notch is able to engage theouter roller clip base.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the rollers are made ofplastic and have a longitudinal length L of about 2% inches. The slots23, 33 and guide clips 24, 34 are approximately Zkinches in length andsubstantially narrower than the diameter of inner roller 11. Thedimension D4 (FIG. 6) is approximately oneeighth inch which allows therespective clip to accommodate both hair thickness and roller wallthickness without substantial bending. The nesting notches 12, 21, 31,are approximately the same width W" as the width of the guide clips 24,34 and are of sufficient length to insure flush nesting of the rollers,e.g. ll, 20, 30. The inner roller 11 has a diameter D of aboutseven-eighths inch and the perforations 13 occupy roughly 2.5 percent ofthe total surface area. The outer roller 20 has a diameter D of about 1%inches. The total surface area of roller 20 is occupied roughly 5percent by the perforations 22 and roughly 5 percent by the slot 23.Outer roller 30 has a diameter D of about l% inches. Perforations 32occupy roughly 10 percent of the total surface area of roller 30. Whilethese dimensions are given as examples it should be understood that theinvention is not limited to particular diameter or length rollers. Wherelarge curls are desired both inner and outer rollers may be ofrelatively large diameter. Alternatively, if small curls are desired allof the rollers may be of relatively small diameter. The amount of axiallateral offset will thus vary both with relative difference in diametersand with the amount of hair wound on each roller.

With respect to the method a typical method of hair curling and dryingaccording to the invention would involve the following steps:

1. Shampoo and rinse hair;

2. Block off a strand of wet hair;

3. Estimate total length of hair and depending on curl style desiredselect a plurality of curlers of increasing diameter and whose totalcircumferential length is enough to accommodate the length of strandtaking into account the desired number and size of turns desired on eachroller;

4. Decide in which direction the tip is desired to curl and wind the tipportion of the wet strand in that direction upon the selected innerroller of smallest diameter and while the inner roller nesting notchesare properly oriented for subsequent nesting;

5. Wind as far as desired on the inner roller according to style andlength of hair;

6. While holding inner roller and the wound hair in right hand, insertinner roller into the next larger outer roller with the inner roller endhaving the nesting notches entering first, with the guide clip of theouter roller entering the interior of the inner roller and engaging theinner roller wall and hair wound thereon and with the continuing strandof hair entering the slot in the outer roller;

7. Rotate inner roller while holding both rollers together until one ofthe inner roller nesting notches engages the base of the guide clip ofthe outer roller;

8. Slide the rollers together until the roller ends are substantiallyflush and the hair wound on the inner roller is completely enclosed bythe outer roller;

9. Decide in which direction the continuing strand of hair is desired tocurl and wind upon the surface of the outer roller accordingly untilanother larger outer roller is desired or the assembly is adjacent tothe scalp;

10. Finally secure the assembly adjacent to the scalp by appropriatemeans;

11. Block off and curl other strands by the same method until all thehair is on rollers;

12. Dry the hair for a-period substantially less than normally required;

13. Remove the roller sets;

14. Comb out the hair.-

From the foregoing it can be seen that the invention gives rise to bothanew roller structure as well as a new method. What is particularlyevident is that the nesting approach and use of rollers of differentdiameter not only results in a sharp decrease in drying time but alsoallows the beauty operator substantially more variation in hair styling,variation in curl size, reverse direction curling and the like.

What is claimed is:

1. A nesting hair curler assembly comprising, in combination:

a. an inner open ended thin walled cylindrical roller of selected lengthand diameter and providing a substantially smooth rigid external wallsurface adapted to have wound thereon and in a given direction a hairstrand end portion in turns of relatively small radius and length;

b. at least one outer open ended thin walled cylindrical roller ofsubstantially the same said selected length but of relatively largerdiameter than said inner roller diameter and providing a substantiallysmooth rigid external wall surface adapted to have wound thereon animmediately continuing portion of said strand, said outer roller havinga longitudinally extending slot in the wall thereof open at one end ofsaid outer roller and terminating with a closed end proximate theopposite end of said outer roller, the width of said slot being narrowand substantially less than said inner roller diameter; and 0. guideclip means integral with said outer roller and adapted to guide saidinner roller during nesting and to releasably secure said inner rollerwith said end portion turns wound thereon nesting within said outerroller in a non-rotatable relation and to provide a longitudinal line ofsecurement immediately proximate said slot whereby said inner roller isplaced with said end portion wound thereon in an approximate tangentialrelation to said outer roller when looked at endwise and such that therespective axes of said rollers are substantially parallel and theportion. of said strand connecting said end and continuing portionsresides in said slot whereby remaining portions of said strand may bewound on said outer roller in turns of larger radius and length thansaid inner roller turns. 2. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed inclaim 1 wherein said guide clip means comprises a resilient ron havin abase end cantilevered at the closed e d 8r Sa ld slot and extending forsubstantially the r311 length thereof and said inner roller has at leastone notch adapted to mate with said base end whereby said inner rollerin use and with hair wound thereon may be guided over said prong andsaid inner and outer roller ends brought flush and fully nested.

3. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein eachroller includes a plurality of said notches and each outer roller havingsaid guide clip means has said notches positioned on the respectiveroller end containing the closed end of said slot.

4. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 1 including aplurality of rollers constructed and adapted for assembly in the mannerof said outer roller.

5. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein each ofsaid rollers is perforated and the respective axes of said rollers inaddition to being parallel are also laterally offset.

6. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein saidprong base end is formed in a manner adapted to space said pronglaterally inwardly from the roller wall and said prong is formedintegral with such wall.

1. A nesting hair curler assembly comprising, in combination: a. aninner open ended thin walled cylindrical roller of selected length anddiameter and providing a substantially smooth rigid external wallsurface adapted to have wound thereon and in a given direction a hairstrand end portion in turns of relatively small radius and length; b. atleast one outer open ended thin walled cylindrical roller ofsubstantially the same said selected length but of relatively largerdiameter than said inner roller diameter and providing a substantiallysmooth rigid external wall surface adapted to have wound thereon animmediately continuing portion of said strand, said outer roller havinga longitudinally extending slot in the wall thereof open at one end ofsaid outer roller and terminating with a closed end proximate theopposite end of said outer roller, the width of said slot being narrowand substantially less than said inner roller diameter; and c. guideclip means integral with said outer roller and adapted to guide saidinner roller during nesting and to releasably secure said inner rollerwith said end portion turns wound thereon nesting within said outerroller in a non-rotatable relation and to provide a longitudinal line ofsecurement immediately proximate said slot whereby said inner roller isplaced with said end portion wound thereon in an approximate tangentialrelation to said outer roller when looked at endwise and such that therespective axes of said rollers are substantially parallel and theportion of said strand connecting said end and continuing portionsresides in said slot whereby remaining portions of said strand may bewound on said outer roller in turns of larger radius and length thansaid inner roller turns.
 2. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed inclaim 1 wherein said guide clip means comprises a resilient prong havinga base end cantilevered at the closed end of said slot and extending forsubstantially the full length thereof and said inner roller has at leastone notch adapted to mate with said base end whereby said inner rollerin use and with hair wound thereon may be guided over said prong andsaid inner and outer roller ends brought flush and fully nested.
 3. Anesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein each rollerincludes a plurality of said notches and each outer roller having saidguide clip means has said notches positioned on the respective rollerend containing the closed end of said slot.
 4. A nesting hair curlerassembly as claimed in claim 1 including a plurality of rollersconstructed and adapted for assembly in the manner of said outer roller.5. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein each ofsaid rollers is perforated and the respective axes of said rollers inaddition to being parallel are also laterally offset.
 6. A nesting haircurler assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein said prong base end isformed in a manner adapted to space said prong laterally inwardly fromthe roller wall and said prong is formed integral with such wall.